meneluininfandomcom-20200214-history
PBA 072a
9:39:02 PM Valerian: Aziz finds Marti in a little stream, bent over and digging in the pebbles with her hands. 9:39:53 PM Valerian: It's no deeper than about a foot, and it's not moving particularly fast here either. 9:40:54 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari plops down on the shore, loud enough that he knows she'd hear. "...you ok?" he asks after a moment or two. 9:41:56 PM Valerian: Marti: Yes, I just can't find it. I know it's there. 9:42:14 PM Aziz al-Awlari: What're you looking for? 9:43:33 PM Valerian: Marti: Another copper! I know it's there. 9:45:44 PM Valerian: She digs around in the pebbles a little bit more. 9:46:09 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari takes that time to compose his thoughts. It works... marginally. 9:46:28 PM Aziz al-Awlari: ...I owe you an explanation. 9:47:57 PM Valerian: Marti: Well, yes. I hate it when people won't explain. I would explain to you. 9:48:17 PM Valerian: Marti: But being a dragon doesn't need explaining, you just do it. 9:48:25 PM Aziz al-Awlari: It's hard to explain because I don't entirely understand it myself. 9:49:40 PM Valerian: She keeps digging in the streambed while she listens. 9:51:45 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari stumbles mentally over a halfdozen ways to explain things, then sighs and abandons them all. 9:51:56 PM Aziz al-Awlari: ...remember when Wynn was talking about romantic entanglements? 9:52:32 PM Valerian: Marti: Yes? 9:53:21 PM Aziz al-Awlari: She's not entirely wrong. I think I might be forming one. With you. And... it worries me. 9:54:36 PM Valerian: Marti: Why? 9:56:08 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Humans are... weird. We're very good at lying to ourselves, finding reasons for why a thing can't be, even when it's kinda staring us in the metaphoric face. I've been subconsciously coming up with reasons for why I can't think of you that way - you're young, there's this massive culture gap... I've sort of taken on the responsibility of teaching you about the human condition, and there's so many connotations where I come from that follow the "teacher-student relationship," so that helped separate things in my head... 9:56:31 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari sighs. "Humans are weird." 9:56:53 PM Valerian: Marti: So weird. 9:58:51 PM Aziz al-Awlari: And it doesn't help that there's an entire other side of the coin for you. Unless I come up with something in the next couple of decades, you'll outlive me by millennia. There's just as much cultureshock for me about your world as there is for you about mine. It just... 9:59:11 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari kinda peters out, having run out of words around the same time as running out of energy. 9:59:32 PM Aziz al-Awlari: ...heh. I feel like some kind of teenage kid. 10:00:20 PM Valerian: Marti: You're not a kid, are you? I'm not. 10:00:53 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I'm not either. 10:01:47 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Though the whole age-disparity thing is... mind-bending. 10:02:18 PM Valerian: Marti: You look just my age. 10:04:00 PM Aziz al-Awlari: For an eyeblink. I'll advance an age category every decade. ...but that's just my brain still trying to make this weird. 10:04:15 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari sighs and presses a fist into his forehead. "Stop that." 10:04:25 PM Valerian: Marti: Iskandar explained to me about presents. 10:04:36 PM Valerian: Marti: And you have birthdays all the time. 10:04:47 PM Aziz al-Awlari: So do you, though. Every year. 10:04:58 PM Aziz al-Awlari: No reason we can't adapt a human tradition to dragons. 10:05:37 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Is that what this was for? 10:05:44 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari reaches into his satchel and produces the silver coin 10:06:17 PM Valerian: Marti: It's a present. But if it's your birthday I didn't know that. 10:06:40 PM Aziz al-Awlari: It's not my birthday yet. ...I don't think. I don't actually know what the date is back home, now. 10:07:20 PM Valerian: Marti: You should make one up. Then everyone will give you presents once a year. 10:08:00 PM Aziz al-Awlari: So should you. I wouldn't mind having more excuses to give you things. 10:08:35 PM Valerian: Marti: But you shouldn't give me all your things. You have to have a nice hoard too. 10:10:06 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari shrugs. "Maybe you can just incorporate me into your hoard," he adds, half-joking. 10:11:23 PM Valerian: Marti: You are worth a lot. But most dragons don't hoard people, they tend to get really upset about it. Although I know one that does. 10:14:03 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I dunno if I'd mind so much, if it was you keeping me. You'd have to make sure nobody stole me, though. 10:14:10 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari smirks. 10:14:29 PM Valerian: Marti: Well yes, I'd bite their heads off. 10:15:04 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Sounds fair. 10:15:35 PM Aziz al-Awlari: What do you think? 10:15:39 PM Valerian: Marti: But I'd do that anyway. 10:15:42 PM Valerian: Marti: About what? 10:16:10 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I dunno... this, I guess. Me. 10:16:34 PM Valerian: Marti: Well I like you, silly. Dragons don't talk to people they don't like. 10:19:38 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I like you, too. I like being around you. And it chafes to think of where you came from - I hate what you had to live through. 10:20:36 PM | Edited 10:21:43 PM Valerian: Marti: Live through what? 10:21:12 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Those people hunting you, trying to steal your magic. I remember when you first got here. 10:21:36 PM Valerian: Marti: Oh! But they never found me. 10:21:48 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I'm glad for that. 10:22:45 PM Valerian: Marti: I don't know if I want a hoard of people, though. 10:25:09 PM Valerian: Marti: Having a lot of mates seems too complicated. 10:25:22 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Maybe just me? That would be nice. 10:26:46 PM Valerian: Marti: .... but I can't even have time to think about it. How do you manage ? 10:27:36 PM Valerian: She picks up a snake out of the water; it snaps at her with poison-dripping fangs. She makes a silly face at it and tosses it downstream. 10:29:47 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Humans are weird. We tend to learn about each other very quickly - couples share an enormous amount of information, especially when you compare them to non-couples. It's typically very apparent, very quickly, when a pair are uncompatible... though sometimes the couple themselves have trouble seeing it. 10:31:16 PM Valerian: Marti: Well normally I'd just beat someone up for you. Maybe another female. 10:32:03 PM Aziz al-Awlari: We could probably skip that step. Unless that's a requirement for dragons..? 10:33:53 PM Valerian: Marti: Dragons don't have requirements . 10:34:36 PM Aziz al-Awlari: See what I mean, though? Culture gaps. 10:35:44 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Humans tend to think of "mating rituals" for other species as some sort of hardcoded species-thing that must happen. At the same time we tend to have this blind-spot for our own, as if they're somehow different or better. 10:35:46 PM Valerian: Marti: Well, I suppose. 10:36:17 PM Valerian: She pulls her hand up from the streambed and examines it. 10:37:13 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Find anything? 10:38:24 PM Valerian: Marti beams and splashes over to him. "Look, I got it!" 10:38:49 PM Valerian: She holds out her hands, still damp and a little sandy, and shows him a copper coin! Ooooh. 10:39:26 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Nicely done. How did you build your hoard up back at home? 10:40:31 PM Valerian: Marti: Oh, there were a lot of old ruins and things with treasure in them, and sometimes people came by the swamp who weren't very nice. 10:40:55 PM Valerian: Marti: But this is miiiiiine! 10:41:12 PM Valerian: She beams and hugs Aziz! damply. Very damply. 10:42:23 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari smiles, more distracted by the hug than by how soaked he is rapidly becoming. "Yep. I'm yours." 10:43:43 PM Valerian: Marti: Oh no, I meant the coin. You're a person, you can't own people. ... you can maybe hoard them, but. 10:44:41 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari grins, trying not to chuckle. "It's a figure of speech." 10:45:16 PM Valerian: Marti: ... oh, I forgot about how cold you get... 10:45:25 PM Valerian: Her teeth are chattering. 10:46:55 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari nods and pulls her out of the water. "Let's get you back to the ship and into something warmer, alright?" 10:47:14 PM Valerian: Marti: All r-right. 10:50:57 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Remind me to do some research into Endure Elements. I don't know if it works if you're already cold. 10:51:16 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari leads her back to the portal, then down to his... her? Their? room. 10:52:11 PM Valerian: She takes off the dress and uses the towel on her hair, a bit more effectively this time. 10:53:09 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari gets her a change of clothes, setting the dress up on a metal mannequin to dry off under a heat-vent. 10:53:31 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I wonder if we couldn't talk to Nation about getting this room expanded... it'd be nice for you to be able to rest in your true form, every once in awhile. What do you think? 10:54:38 PM Valerian: Marti: Well, there is the forest. 10:54:52 PM Valerian: She puts the other clothes on, shivering a bit. 10:55:25 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Yeah, but that's not... private. That's like setting up a lair with no walls. 10:56:04 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari thinks a moment, then sets the mannequin off to the side and tugs her under the vent, hugging her close while the vent blasts warm air down around them. "...any better?" 10:56:41 PM Valerian: Marti: That's much better. It's so much easier with scales. I'm never cold. 10:57:24 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari smiles softly, tucking her head under his chin. "Glad I could help, then." 10:58:42 PM Valerian: She snuggles in a bit. 11:01:24 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari kinda just... basks, enjoying the closeness and the relative peace of mind. "This is nice." 11:01:55 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I feel like there's this weight off my chest. 11:02:22 PM Valerian: She leans back and checks. "... it looks the same to me." 11:03:57 PM Aziz al-Awlari: It's a psychosomatic thing. ...remember when I told you earlier how humans are really good at lying to themselves? 11:04:20 PM Valerian: Marti: Yes? 11:04:29 PM Aziz al-Awlari: And remember how illusions can make you think and feel things that aren't really there? 11:06:10 PM Aziz al-Awlari: The human mind can basically cast little illusions at itself to make it think it feels things. They're typically how a human's subconscious tries to break ideas through to the rest of the brain. A weight over your heart, for example, could be the weight of a thing you feel obligated to do, but at the same time are really trying not to do. 11:06:47 PM Valerian: Marti: Well, that seems silly. 11:06:57 PM Valerian: Marti: Dragons just do things. 11:07:08 PM Valerian: She kisses him! 11:07:39 PM Aziz al-Awlari: I -- 11:07:54 PM Aziz al-Awlari: Aziz al-Awlari is quickly cut off by the surprisingly pleasant press of lips. 11:09:23 PM Valerian: And there we'll stop for the night 'cause it's late!